Seasoned Grandma Tip #11 ~ Go to the Carnival!

We all know the metaphors for the passing of time.

Right?

Time flies. Time is a river. Time is a gift. Time is a miser. Time is a circus.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands or tens of thousands of these Time metaphors.

Because TIME is something that we as human beings understand, yet do not understand, all at the same time.

But what I think brings us closer to the reality of TIME is being a grandparent. We see things, we feel movement, we better understand days and nights, suns and moons, months and years, wind and calm from perspectives that we did not quite have the TIME or wisdom to understand as parents.

We take time, steal time, bend time, do the impossible with time to be with our grandkids.

Yes?

We are, easily, thieves for time.

Take the opportunity to take a bunch of grandkids to your town’s 4th of July Carnival. Do you let the weather forecast of rain stop you?

Hell, no!

You GO TO THE CARNIVAL!

Because to paraphrase playwright (among other literary things) Ben Hecht – Time is a carnival, always packing up and moving away – (OK, Hecht wrote circus, not carnival, but same idea.)

As grandparents, we know all about movement of time, of how it flies and steals and spins and promises more if you’re ready to accept it.

GO TO THE CARNIVAL under the cloudy early evening summer sky threatening rain because it’s not safe and still and small!

No, TIME is laughter and swirling ferris wheels and pink & blue cotton candy and powered sugar on doughboys and soaking wet hair and sneakers! Time is exciting and fluid and big! Grab it before it packs up and steals away!

And the very next night, when your 14-year old grandson asks if you’d like to GO TO THE CARNIVAL again, you DO.

Because to quote Christopher Morley (American essayist, poet, novelist), Time is a river. Happy those who allow themselves to be carried, un-resisting, with the current. They float through easy days. They live, unquestioning, in the moment.

Grandpa and I have 12 grandkids (ages 1 – 16), so it’s rare to be with just one grandchild alone. UN-RESISTING, WE FLOWED WITH THE CURRENT – with Andrew.

Well, more accurately, we flowed from the sidelines with the electric currents that charged those carnival thrill rides (I had a shoulder injury, or I would have been a willing partner!).

Remember, TIME is not supposed to be safe and still and small. It’s charged and un-resisting and very, very big with colors blending into rainbows of movement and excitement and light and whirling with music – in the moment!

With Andrew, our oldest grandson, our moments of Time seem to be passing ever so swiftly. Our TIME metaphor for this special evening seemed to be that time races on, sometimes at the speed of light… but we as grandparents have the incredible ability to see it racing right before our very eyes and yet capture it, too.

Yes, grandparents have a handle on Time!

It was a mesmerizing evening at the carnival with Andrew!

We captured Andrew on every single ride.

For two nights of Time, we were unquestioningly carried by the current and living in the moments before the carnival packed up and moved away.

We captured Time even as it swirled by at the speed of light.

That’s what grandparents can do.

SO here’s a Tip… GO TO THE CARNIVAL!